Coke oven



J. BECKER Nov.- l7, 1 931.-

COKE OVEN 4 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Oct.

L4 TTORNEYS.

J. BECKER 1,832,613

COKE'OVEN 4 Sheets-Sheet 2,

.ll! //l H// U /fl/ l I, Ill/l lll ll Filed 001:. 6, 1927 u 4l l l Nov. 17, 1931.

INVENTOR.

BY a x ATTORNEYS.

. 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Y J. BECKER COKE OVEN Filed Oct. 6. 1927 IN VEN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

mama Nov. 1 1931 v UNITED. STATES P TE T]- oFFIcE JOSEPH BECKER, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE KOPPERS COM- PANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE x1. ovEn Application filed October. 6, 1927. Serial No. 224,329;

This invention. comprehends improve-- ments of general utility in the coking retort oven art, and also comp're'hends certainimprovements especially applicable to coking retort ovens of the well-known cross-regenerative type exemplified in the patent to H. Keppers No. 818,033 dated April '17, 1906, or that to Joseph Becker 1,374,546, dated April 12, 1921.

The invention has for objects the provision of a coking retort oven having, as an important characteristic, a novel construction of the heating walls and system of control of the flow through the flame flues of said walls and their communicably connected regenera-- tors, which eliminates the employment of cross-connect b long horizontal or bus flues and horizontal' ,or bus flues of relatively large cross-sectional area in the oven construction. The improvements made by the invention have the important advantage that they enable a con siderable thickening and strengthening of the walls of the oven structure includingiin particularvtheir upper regions. It is a special object of my present invention, while dispensing with the horizontal or bus flues, to retain the equalizing capability. of an oven provided with such flues.

These results I conveniently accomplish by employing in each heating wall independent sets of combustion flues, the individual sets lying respectively adjacent the opposite heating'surfaces of said wall, each set of such flues being separated from the although it will be obvious that agroup of fluesof each set may be inter-connected by a single cross-connecting duct, and in order to secure equalization between the several individual cross-connected pairs-of flues, or groups of such flues, I provide equalizing ducts between points therein which it is desired'to maintain at'substantially the same potential. Such equalizingducts may advantageously extend between the several cross-connecting ducts of each heating wall.,

These equalizing ductsare' not required to carry the normal flow and are therefore preferably'made of considerably less crosssectional area than would be required strength to the wall structure. The: free ends of the respective sets of combustion flues in each heatingwall are con-'' nected in' the usual manner'to the regenerators, one set of such flues serving for inflow and the other for outflow during one period of operation and upon reversal the outflow flues of the former period become inflow flues and the inflow flues of the former period he- ,for flow ducts, in order to impart added comeoutflow flues, as well understood in 'theart. There necessarily exists at the regenerator ends or the respective inflow and outflow setsof combustion flues in the same heating wall a high pressure differential which tends to cause leakage from the inflow set of combustion flues carrying the unburntgases to the outflow set of flues carrying the waste gases. This is avoided in my construction by the heavy partition 'wall which I provide between said sets .of flues. This partition wall also serves to greatly strengthen the entire heating wall.

In addition to theobjects recited above, the invention contemplates a novel regenerative construction and system of flow therethrough and through the flues, promoting uniformity of distribution, and has for other objects such other improvements and advantages in construction and operation as are found to obdescribed or claimed.

the other set, the cross-connecting ducts being 4 In the accompan ing drawings, forming shown respectively individual to a pair of flues comprising a single flue-"of each set, purposes of exemplification,apreferred-form I.

a part of this speci catlon and showing, for

U tain in the structures and devices hereinafter and manner in which the invention may be embodied and practiced, but without limiting the claimed invention to such illustrative instance or instances:

Figure I is a crosswise vertical section through a coke oven battery embodying features above specified and equipped with the improvements of the present invention, the view being taken longitudinally through a coking chamber and apair of regenerators,

in planes indicated by the line A, A of Fig. 2

The same characters of reference designatethe same parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the invention is incorporated in a combination coke oven battery, i. e., a battery having provision for being operated either with producer gas for fuel or with coke oven gas burned in an atmosphere of ordinary preeated air such as is utilized in ordinary coke ovens or with coke even as burned in an atmosphere containing bot air and a neutral aseous diluent which is introduced into the ame flues separately from the air. A combination coke oven battery having these fea tures is described and claimed in my Patent No. 1,416,322, for coking retort oven, dated May 16, 1922. For convenience, the present description will be confined to the present illustrated embodiment of the invention in such a coke oven battery; the novel features and improvements made by the invention are susceptible of other appllcations, such, for example, as ordinary so-called "coke ovens employing coke oven gas for fuel, or ordinary so-called gas ovens employing 'producer gas for fuel; hence, the scope of the invention is not confined to the specific use and specific embodiment herein described as an illustrative example.

Referring to the drawings: there are illustrated views of a coke oven battery or plant of the by-product type, having features above specified; said oven battery embodies in its construction a plurality of crosswise elongated heating walls '11, 11 and a plurality of intermediate crosswise elongated vertical coking chambers 12, 12. The heating walls 11 form the side walls of the respective coking chambers 12, as shown more particularly in Fig. 2, and, in the present instance, are

supported by the heavy supporting or pillar walls 13, 13 which extend crosswise of the battery and are located, as shown in Fig. 2,

in pairs beneath therespective heating walls 11, 11. These. pillar walls, together with other walls, hereinafter described, collectively' form the main support for theentire superstructure of the oven battery, and are themselves supported upon a flat mat or platform which constitutes the sub-foundation on which the entire battery rests.

The coal to be coked is charged into the several coking-chambers or ovens through charging holes 14 located in the top 15 of the oven battery and positioned directly above the ovens or chambers 12, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. These charging holes 14 are equipped with the usual removable covers, which are removed during charging of the individual ovens or coking chambers and are placed inposition to close the tops of such coking chambers during the entire coking or distilling operation. The gases of distillation pass from the tops of the several coking chainbers 12 through gas outlets 16 and thence through ascension pipes (not shown) into the usual gas collecting main which carries the distillation products to the by-product recovery apparatus.

Heat for cokin the charges of coal in the several ovens or c ambers 12 is derived from the heating walls 11, which as before mentioned, extend crosswise of the battery at the sides of the coking chambers. Referring now more particularly to Figs. '2 and 3, each heating wall 11 is constituted of two parallel series G and H of flame or combustion flues 17. Each series of such flame flues extends from end to end of the heating wall and, in accordance with the invention all of the flues of one series of a heating wall operate concurrently for flow in the same direction while, at the same time, all of the flues of the other series of the same heating wall are operatingconcurrently for flow in the opposite direction. In alternate walls the sequence of the series G and H may conveniently be reversed as regards their sequence in the intermediate walls. When the series of flues on one side of the alternate coking chambers are burning, that is to say, operating for upflow the flame flues on the opposite side of the same coking chambers will therefore also be operating for upflow while the flame flues on op os1te sides of the intermediate coking cham ers will be operating for downflow. Consequently heating is malntained continuously from end to end on both sides of'a charge of coking coal in alternate coking chambers during an entire periodand, then, after reversal, the hot waste gases areapplied to the full length of the said two sides of the charge, until subsequent reversal is efl'ected. The intermediate coking chambers ass through the same cycle in reverse order. he wall section 17 separating the respective series of flues 17 in each wall are preferably made of substantial thickness, materially Ill) greater than the thickness of the heat conducting sections 17 between the flues and chamber, as clearly shown in Figure 2, to prevent the escape of the burnlng gases therethrough from the combustion flues into the waste gas'flues as tends to occur due to the pressure difl'erential at the bottoms of the respective flue series. This construction also results in greatly strengthening the walls and permits the building of higher walls and flues, which is a ve desirable feature, as well as facilitating t e introduction of'the requisite number of regenerators, and serving also as reservoirs of heat to maintain a greater uniformity of heating conditions.

The crosswise regenerators 18 of the regenerator oven or battery are located at a loWer-level than the aforesaid heatingwalls 11 and coking chambers .12 and, in the present instance, extend in parallelism between the pillar walls 13 and the other heavy supporting Walls hereinafter described. Located in the middle lengthwise vertical plane of the coke oven battery, is a vertical partion 19, as shown in Fig. 1,- which partition extends all the way up from the mat of the battery to the bottom of the overlying coking chamber and from oneto the other of the pillar walls 13, and the other walls which are between the pillar walls. The regenerators, which are respectively located on opposite sides of the battery extend lnwardly to said partition 19 and are separated thereby as clearly shown in Fig. 1. This arrangement permits control from opposite sides ofthe battery of the flow through the regenerators, thereby assisting the novel flue arrangement in promoting uniformity of distribution. Each regenerator 18 is a chamberj 22 also have the function with the pillar walls 13 of supporting the weight of the battery superstructure. As shown in Fig. 2', the adjacent regenerators which are communicably connected with the series G of flame flues are respectively designated by the reference characters G and the adjacent regenerators which are communicably connected with the series H of flame flues are respectively des ignated by the reference character H.

The regenerators G. and H are heated, in alternation, by the hot combustion products that are exhausted from the flame or combustion flues hereinbefore mentioned and then impart such heat tothe medium that they feed into these flame flues; in the present in- .invention the pairs of regenerators of the groups H arecommunicably connected by such ducts 23 with the flues of the series H of the heatin walls, and the pairs of regenerators of 51a group G are communicably connected by similar ducts 23 with the flame flues of the series G of the heating walls. With this construction, each flame flue 17 of both series of each heating wall communicates by a pair of ducts 23 with adjacent separate regenerators through which flow is maintained concurrently in the same direction, that is to say both of the regenerators which are connected with the same series of flame flues are either operating for inflow or for outflow. As shown in Fig. 2, two pairs of regenerators of the groupsG' alternate with two pairs of regenerators of the groups H. f

In the present embodiment of the invention, an entire series of flame flues G or H of each heating wall is either burning or operating for downflow vto convey waste products to the regenerators beneath, while the other series of the same heating wall is operating for flow in a direction opposite to that in the series of flues just mentioned, and consequently the regenerators ali' ned on opposite sides of the central longltudinal partition 19 operateconcurrently for flow in the same direction and in the same manner.

The reversal in flow through the flame flues on opposite sides of a coking. chamber, and their communicably connected regenerators may thus be said to take place ongitudinally of the oven battery, instead of trans-- prior to the reversal operated as inflow regenerators and flues become outflow regen erators and flues, and the outflow operating regenerators and flues become inflow operating regenerators'and flues; thev suppl of gas is turned off from the previously upburnmg pairs of adjacent flues and turned into the mains of the previously downburning flues. Each flame flue 17 of both series of each heating wall has at its top a port or opening 24 for draft and the passage of combustion products or waste gas from the flame within the flue; In accordance with the invention these ports 24 open up into passageways 25, there being a passageway 25 connecting eachflue of a series G individually with the contiguous flue of the series H of the same heating wall. Thus all of the flues of a series G of a heating wall are individually connected by longitudinally extending passageways 25 with the contiguous flues of the other group of the other series H of the same heating wall. By reason of the fact that the several passageways 25 of each heating wall are only required to have suificient capacity for takin care of the flow from an individual flue an directing it into another individual flue, the thickness and strength of the heating walls are substantially increased in the region where one series of flame flues is connected with another. Moreover, because of the fact that, in the present instance, the upburning flues are individually connected with the downburning flues, uniformity in distribution of the flow through the flues and the communicating regenerators is greatly promoted.

As an important feature of the instant invention I provide equalizing passageways 26 between points in the cominunicably connected sets of combustion flues which it is desired to maintain at substantially the same potential, the connections being shown as advantageouslymade between the passageways 25 on each side of the medial line of each heating wall. Since the equalizing passageways do not carry the normal flow I preferably design them of materially less cross-sectional area than the flow passageways thereby substantially strengthening the wall structure.

The draft through the ports 24 may be regulated by means of the usual movable dam ers or sliding bricks 27, positionedin t e ordinary way in the bottoms of the connecting passageways 25 and adapted to be reached by access flues 28 which extend from the top of the passageways 25 in each heating wall through the top 15 of the battery, there being an access flue positioned over each flame or combustion flue of each heating wall.

Extending crosswise of the battery in each pillar wall 13 and located beneath the heating. wall 11 thereabove, is a pair of gassupply channels 29 and 30. These channels 29 and 30 are for the purpose of supplying coke oven gas to the several flame flues on each side of the central line L, and to accomplish this end, the channel 29 communicates with the individual flues 17 on one side of said line L by means of ducts 31 that lead from such channel 29 individuall into the bottoms of individual flues; an the channel 30 which supplies the several flues that are located on the other side of the above mentioned dividing line L communicates therewith by means of similarly connecting ducts. Within the several ducts are disposed the usual nozzles 32.

- The supply of coke oven gas to the respective channels 29 and 30 is derived from coke oven gas means of the usual type and respectively located on the opposite sides of the bat-' tery and extending longitudinally therealong. Suitable means is provided for admitting or cutting off the supply of gas with respect to each pair of channels 29 and 30, it being understood' that the gas supply is either concurrently maintained or concurrentl shut off from both channels of. a pair. or operating the battery alternately with the use of a special generator gas, such as producer gas for fuel, one regenerator of each pair H or G, this depending on which group is operating for inflow, may be optionall connected with a producer gas main, by mec ianism such as is disclosed in my before mentioned Patent No. 1,416,322, so that producer gas may be directed into one regenerator of each inflow operating pair and air into the other regenerator of each such pair, the air and producer gas being conveyed through those regenerators into burnin flame flues.

The operation of the attery, when using a special generator gas, such as ordinary producer gas for fuel, is as follows: the supply of coke oven gas to the coke oven gas main and to all of the coke oven gas channels 29 and 30 is cut off. Assuming that the flue series H and their connected pairs of regenerators of the group H are operating for inflow, a supply of producer gas is permitted to flow into one regenerator of each pair H and air into the other regenerator of each such pair. During the inflow of producer gas and air through the regenerators H waste as from the downburning flues of the series is flowing out through the communicably connected regenerators of the groups G. On reversal of the battery the inflow operating regenerators H and flues H become outflow regenerators and flues and concurrently the outflow operating regenerators G and flues G be- 7 come inflow regenerators and flues. In order to prevent leakage from a regenerator conveylng valuable combustible gas into a regenerator carrying off the waste gases I reverse the arrangement of flow connections for adjacent heating walls so that four inflow regenerators alternate with four outflow regenerators and through the two inflow regenerators adjacent the groups of outflow re enerators I pass the air to the respective ad acent heating walls and throu h the two inflow 'egenerators intermediate t e air re enerators I pass the combustible gas to the same respective adjacent heating walls. The

flow between air and gas regenerators being in the same direction there is little pressure differential between them tendin to cause leakage and should any leakage o combustible gas into the air occur it will still be preserved for combustion. On reversal, the same arrangement of air and gas regenerators is maintained between the regenerators, previously carrying waste heat. A typical condition for one period of flow is shown in Fig. 2 in which'W indicates the regenerators conveying the waste gases, A those conveying air and P those conveying producer gas. This arrangement further results in maintaining the same conditions of heat and flow-on both sides of an oven chamber during a given period of operation, i. e., the flues on the opposite sides of each chamber are both conveying the burning gases upward or the waste gases downward and upon reversal of the battery the upburning flues become downflow flues and the downflow flues become upburning flues, thus maintaining a balance of the heating conditions.

In operating the battery with coke oven gas in the ordinary manner, the supply of producer gas to one member of each inflow operating pair of regenerators is shut OE and air is permitted to flow into such regenerators in place of the producer gas. During coke oven gas operation, a supply of coke oven gas is maintained in such of the channels 29 and 30 as feed the upburning flues. The reversing mechanism is operated at each reversal to place all of the inflow operating regenerators in communication with the outer air and concurrently all of the outflow operating regenerators in communication with the exhaust. A further mode of o eration is with coke oven gas as a fuel; com ined with a supply of neutral gaseous diluent to the upburning flues. In so operating'the battery, the supply of producer gas is turned ating groups that serve for producer ofi and the supply of coke oven gas is turned on. Instead, however, of permitting air to flow into such regenerators of the inflow operas, during the latter operation, waste gas is fiermitted to flow into such regenerators an be delivered thereby to the upburning flameflues. The admission into each of the upburning flues of a supply of neutral aseous diluent, such as waste gas, is efi'ec ive to lengthen greatly the flames within such flues and to prevent the localization of the hottest flame temperature inthe extreme lower portions of the flues.

It will be apparent that myconstruction provides flow pathways for the upflow burning gases and the downflow products of combustion of minimum aggregate length while.

by the use of equalizing passags balanced operation and eflicient regulation is eflected.

l he cross-over ducts 25, by reason ofthe from the intense heat of the produits of combustion in the cross-over ducts, an the tops of the flame flues are located. substantially at but sufliciently below the coal top-level V C in the cokingchambers whereby the coal charges are subjected to flame heating up to substantially the coal top-level C in the coking chambers and the distillation gases in the usual distillate gas collecting space above such level 0 in the chambers are also protected from being-heated by the burning gases in the vertical combustion flues.

This application is a continuation in part of my copending applications Serial No. 440,645, filed January 28, 1921, Patent No. 1,678,801, and Serial No. 452,238, filed March 14, 1921, Patent No. 1,678,802.

The invention as hereinabove set forth is embodied in a particular form of construction but may be variously embodied within the scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I claim:

1. In a coking retort oven battery, in combination: a series of alternate coking chambers and heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row; each of said heating walls comprising two parallel series of vertical combustion flues communicably connected in groups, each of said groups com prising flues of both series communicably connected at their tops by a duct individual tothe group, for simultaneous counterfloyv of gas with each'other; the two series of flues being separated from each other by wall portions of substantial. thiclmess, materially greater than that of the wall portion between each of said flues and the coking chamber contiguous thereto; gas pressure equalizing ducts respectively communicably connectin the ducts of a plurality of groups of sai groups of flues in each of said heating walls; and, regenerators communicably connected with said fluesfor supplying to the flues preheated air and combustible .gas and for reon opposite sides of alternate cokin the flues of the respective series of flues lying on opposite sides of intermediate coking chambers.

2. In a coking retort oven battery, in combination: aseries of alternate coking chambers and heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row each of said heating walls comprising two parallel series of vertical combustion flues communicably connected in groups, each of said groups comprising fiues of both series communicably connected at their tops by a duct individual to the group for simultaneous counterflow of gas with each other; gas pressure equalizing ducts respectively communicably connecting the ducts of a plurality of groups of said groups of flues in each of said heating walls; and regenerators communicably connected with said flues for supplying to the flues preheated air and combustible gas and for removing from the flues waste gas in alternation; said regenerators being disposed sideby-side in a row and arranged in side-by-side groups operable in alternation with each other for inflow of combustible gas and air simultaneously and concurrent outflow of waste gas, with the regenerators for inflow of combustible gas separated from regenerators for outflow of waste gas by regenerators.

for inflow of air; said regenerators also being so arranged and communicably connected with the flues of said heating walls as to allow flow in the flues of the respective series offlues lying on opposite sides of alternate coking chambers simultaneously counter to that in the flues of the respective series of flues lying on opposite sides of intermediate coking chambers.

3. In a coking retort oven battery, in combination: a series of alternate coking chambers and heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row; each of said heating walls comprising two series of vertical combustion flues, communicably connected with each other at their tops for passage of combustion products so as to allow flow in one series simultaneouslye counter to that in the other, said series lying respectively on opposite sides of their respective heating walls and being sepalf ated from each other by partition walls that "afe"substantially thicker than the flue walls facing the coking chamber; and pairs of regenerators individual to each of said series of combustion flues respecof fuel gas separated from the regenerators for outflow of waste gas by regenerators for inflow of air.

4. In a coking retort oven, in combination: a series of alternate coking chambers and heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row, each of said heating walls comprising two series of vertical combustion flues disposed in groups, each of said groups comprising at least one flue of each of both series terminating at their tops in restricted ports located below the levels of the tops of said coking chambers and communica ly connected at their tops by a cross-duct individual to the group for counterflow of waste gas with each other; said series lying on opposite sides of their respective heating walls respectively and separated from each other by a massive partition wall of substantial thickness, materially greater than that of the wall portion between each of said flues and the coking chamber contiguous thereto, and the cross-ducts being located between and extending from the tops of said flues to the level of the tops of the coking chambers and being separated from the top portions of the coking chambers by walls substantially thicker than the flue walls facing the coking chambers at levels lower than said top portions, the cross-ducts in each of the heating walls also being separated from each other by vertical partitions extending entirely across the heating Wall from the tops of the massive partition wall and vertical flues to the level of the tops of the coking chambers; and gas-pressure equalizing passages extending through said vertical partitions and communicably connecting the cross-ducts with each other, said equalizing passages being located over the massive partition walls and each being of less width transversely of the heating wall than the massive partition wall, whereflue continuously across the tops of said vertical flues and closely alongside the top portions of the coking'chambers is avoided.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set JOSEPH BECKER.

'my hand.

tively and communicably connected with the combustion flues thereof for supplying to. the flues preheated air and combustible gas and fo'r'removing waste gas therefrom in alternation, the regenerators of said pairs being dis posed side-by-side in a row and the pairs of regenerators being arranged in side-by-side groups thereof operable in alternation with each other for inflow of fuel gas and air si-.

multaneously and for concurrent outflow of waste gas, with the regenerators for inflow 

